The present invention is generally directed to a blockout apparatus for integration in a structural member which preserves a through passage in the structural member while providing built in support for weight bearing hardware. More specifically, the present invention is directed to such blockout apparatus having integrated measures conveniently accessible to a user for stable and secure mounting of certain weight bearing hardware directly thereon, when the blockout apparatus is incorporated within a structural member.
Various prefabricated structural members formed of concrete or other such materials known in the art are widely used in various applications. Examples of these structural members include modular forms molded into particularly configured units, such as the so-called T-beam forms, used as building blocks in the construction of various building structures. Like structural members of numerous other type, these T-beam forms generally include a planar top panel and one or more vertical beams formed underneath the top panel to project vertically downward therefrom (to give the structural member/form a “T-beam” sectional profile). The vertical beam typically projects downward from a mid-portion of the top panel and extends underneath along substantially the full length of its bottom surface.
In substantial building structures like parking garages and the like, numerous concrete T-beam structural forms of this type are arranged and assembled together so that their top panels collectively form a ceiling for one level of the building and, if necessary, a flooring base for the elevated level immediately above. The vertical beams in a row of assembled structural forms then align to collectively define supporting joist structures for the overall surface defined overhead by the top panels of the assembled forms.
Much like flooring joists used in traditional construction to provide cross-run support underneath subfloor boards, a series of supporting joists run parallel underneath the top panel surface being supported. Various pipes, cable, conduits, and other such implements required to meet the mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) needs of the given building structure are routed through the vertical beams of assembled T-beam forms—accommodated through cross openings, or passages, pre-formed therein. Typical concrete T-beam structural forms known in the art are provided with one or more of these cross-passages prefabricated through their vertical beams.
The cross-passages are preserved by tubular blockout devices incorporated into the structural members. In the case of molded structural members like concrete T-beam forms, the tubular blockout devices are placed suitably in a given mold prior to the concrete's pouring. The blockout devices then remains embedded within cured concrete, each preserving a cross-passage for the resulting structural form.
When a collection of such structural forms having cross passages are arranged and assembled together, the cross passages provide portals for freely running the various MEP implements transversely through intervening vertical members. Building codes and technical standards applicable to given applications, however, invariably require any extended run of such implements to be adequately secured to a stabilizing structure at each incremental span along the run. It is not enough that extended runs of implements pass unimpeded through the vertical beams. They must be mounted by appropriate hardware to a stable nearby structure.
In the case of electrical cables that are run along pipe-like conduits passed through the structural forms' cross passages, this requires a user to first install one or more securement anchors into the nearby structural surface to establish mounting points for the required hanging hardware. Typically, the securement anchors must be installed into the concrete surface of the top panel(s) spanning the distance between two spaced vertical beams.
This presents a number of drawbacks. First, installing a securement anchor normally requires either drilling or other impact penetration of the overhead ceiling surface (formed by the concrete top panel surface). The user is not only required to operate extraneous tools that he/she may not otherwise need to operate, it consumes considerable time which, when repeated for every incremental span of an extended conduit run, accumulates to a significant delay in completing installation. The task also requires high dexterity and strained effort to carry out. What is more, the overhead drilling and hammering process creates potentially hazardous puffs of dusty debris which in addition to requiring inconvenient cleanup exposes the user to respiratory and optical contamination, and injury from falling pieces of residual debris. Penetrating the concrete material also creates unnecessary points of possible weakening and potential compromise in the concrete form itself.
There is therefore a need for measures to simplify, speed up, and abate if not eliminate the undue hazards in the process of installing and securing continuous runs of such implements as pipes, cables, conduits, and the like through intervening portions of various structural members. There is a need for such measures which afford users convenient built in measures to accommodate the secure mounting of hardware to hold such implements passed through the structural members. There is a need for such measures which obviate the need for users to separately install points of securement on which to safely mount requisite hanging/supporting hardware.